George Russell was soaked after winning the Las Vegas Grand Prix in grand style. Had he jumped into the Bellagio Fountains, scene of the post-race celebrations?
No, and he cited a medical reason why not.
Blaming champagne as the cause of his soggy jumpsuit, the Brit revealed: “Last year around this time I caught pneumonia after Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi and was sick until mid-February.
“I really wanted to jump into the fountains, but I was so cold after the race that I thought I was going to get really sick again.
“I was thinking about the struggles I had because they take a huge toll on the body.”
Russell’s composed performance was worthy of the third victory of his career. His Mercedes was inexplicably fast, but he exploited that advantage to devastating effect.
George Russell with the trophy after winning the Las Vegas Grand Prix in style, the third victory of his career
Russell says he considered jumping into Bellagio Fountains but changed his mind
He quickly moved away from pole and survived the wheel-to-wheel threat to his fate at the end of lap four, holding off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with clinical precision and defiance.
His teammate Lewis Hamilton did very well from 10th on the grid (a poor performance in qualifying) to finish second, while overtaking three cars on the track and the Ferraris in the pits.
“Honestly, it was one of the races I enjoyed the most,” said the seven-time world champion, who recovered from his nightmare in Brazil a fortnight earlier when he ran into problems in the wet.
“If I had started on pole and led the way, it wouldn’t have been as much fun.” Of course, winning a grand prix is always a great thing, but facing adversity and fighting back feels so much better when you achieve it.”
As for Russell triumphing and Max Verstappen securing the world title, it was a bad day to bury good news.